Voice of Change: Heirloom in the Media
Crissi Cochrane
It’s a lovely, mild Sunday. Mike is downstairs with Taylor, our drummer, recording some bed tracks for the next Family Soul EP, and Adeila is somehow sleeping through it. Even better, she’s sleeping at a normal nap time, even though we set the clocks ahead one hour last night.
It’s officially been one week since Heirloom was released. It’s been a full, busy week, and my heart finally feels light again. There’s so much administrative work to be done around an album release, and as an independent artist, if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. There are still some big pieces left to do - some more radio mail-outs, some more interviews, some more filming - but I feel like I can finally relax a little. I always tell myself, it’s good to be busy, but I also read a quote this week - “your kids don’t need a perfect mom, they need a happy one”, and I’ve been keeping those words in mind.
Recently, there have been some lovely media pieces about Heirloom that I’d like to share with you! First up was The Windsor Star’s second-page full-colour article with new photos of me, and the headline: Voice Of Change. DAMN. How good does that sound!? I think it’s both the greatest headline and the greatest-looking article I’ve had in my career so far. I retrieved an old two-sided glass frame from the attic, so I could preserve it and still read the front cover headlines on the opposite side of the page. You can read the web article here:
CRISSI COCHRANE IN THE WINDSOR STAR >
I got an email late in the afternoon on the album release day, asking if two reporters with Eyes On Windsor could come out, take photos, and review the release show. My answer: OF COURSE! They took some excellent colour photos of the show (not easy to do with dim and coloured lighting in the venue), interviewed the band members, and put together a lovely little snapshot of what that evening was like.
CRISSI COCHRANE IN EYES ON WINDSOR >
Just before the album came out, WindsoriteDOTca published an article about the album, written by Marc Rocheleau. Marc sent me a dozen questions by email, which is one of my preferred ways to do an interview because I can work it in around other things, and take my time to consider the questions and give thoughtful answers. Usually, this format of interview gets published in a question-and-response format, but instead, Marc took the time to weave my answers into a really wonderful in-depth article. He had me consider how this album is different from my past work, and I realized things I wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of.
“I think there is a romanticized idea of this ‘dark poet,’ a tortured, struggling artist, a wounded soul making something wise and powerful,” she said. “I came of age in the apex of emo music, so this self-destructive mindset was all around me and was deeply internalized. I thought I could use my misery to create better art, but I let in so much negativity that it threatened my ability to create anything at all. It took time, love and reprogramming to overcome.”
CRISSI COCHRANE IN WINDSORITE >
Early last week, I was also the featured guest on the local podcast, Straight Outta Windsor. Andy Sullivan come by one evening after Adeila was asleep and we recorded our session downstairs in the studio. We had a nice long chat about so many chapters of my life - making music at my family cottage and how painfully shy I was about singing as a kid, reading my childhood journals, studying music business in Nova Scotia, having my song included in the show Nashville, quitting my day job, and a lot more.
This weekend, the Heirloom vinyl pre-order officially came to a close, finishing with 115 copies pre-ordered, blowing well past my original goal of 100! I just finished uploading all my artwork, audio files, and paperwork to get the pressing underway. It’ll still be 8-10 weeks before the vinyl is in our hands, but in the meantime, you can find the album streaming all over the world.
Alright, Adeila is up, so that’s the end of this blog post! Time to enjoy the rest of our sunny day. Hope you’re having a nice weekend, or Monday, or whatever day it is when you read this! ❤️